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Sparks has a big 2014

It's safe to say that 2014 has been a very big year for the Sparks.

It was back in February that the Sparks (Ron and Russell Mael) announced they were working on material with Franz Ferdinand. The veteran synth rockers told NME the two bands had been collaborating since they met in San Francisco in April 2013, and had hoped to finish recording by the time the Sparks began their summer tour.

"You can really hear a mashing together of both bands," Ron told the website. "If there was a train crash between Franz Ferdinand and Sparks, this is what the wreckage would sound like."
As if the one album weren't enough, the Sparks were also said to be working on a movie of their 2009 album "The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman," as well as an album with an undisclosed narrative theme.

And then there is the well known fact that 2014 marks the 40th Anniversary of Sparks' ground-breaking classic album, "Kimono My House." To celebrate the event, Sparks will will perform the album in its entirety at the Barbican Centre on December 19th and 20th. The album will be performed with the 35-piece Heritage Orchestra. The show will also have a second half consisting of songs from throughout Sparks' career that have been also newly orchestrated for the show. Sparks fans nabbed tickets in a hurry, as the first night sold out within the first few hours after it went on sale.

Start a band, find a Spark (Created May 22, 2013)

What do you do after you've spent your childhood modeling young men's apparel for mail-order catalogs? If you're Ron and Russell Mael, you start a band, give it a quirky name like Halfnelson and then watch it grow into something else entirely.

The musical ambitions of the brothers Mael, as it turned out, would be rounded into something whole. There came another set of brothers, guitarist Earle Mankey and bassist Jim Mankey, along with drummer Harley Feinstein. And soon after their debut album flopped, they felt like they needed a spark. Or rather, Sparks. And with the new name, a manager who believed in their music and a Hot 100 single (1972's "Wonder Girl"), the band emerged from a cult status to one warmly received by fans and press around the world.

By 1974, Sparks had a new lineup in place with guitarist Adrian Fisher, bassists Martin Gordon, and drummer Norman "Dinky" Diamond. Immediately they recorded the album "Kimono My House," which reached the Top Five of the U.K. album charts and spawned the hits "This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both of Us" and "Amateur Hour."

Lineup changes became a staple to Sparks, which would go on to score hits with songs like "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth," "Something for the Girl With Everything," "The Number One Song in Heaven," "Beat the Clock" and "Tryouts for the Human race." By the turn of the century, they produced three albums inside of six years ("Lil' Beethoven" in 2002, "Hello Young Lovers" in 2006 and "Exotic Creatures of the Deep" in 2008). What's more, they were commissioned to compose a piece of radio theater, resulting in a 22nd album, "The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman." It premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2011.

In October 2012, Ron and Russell performed for the first time ever as a duo, with no band. It led to the Sparks first ever live album, "Two Hands, One Mouth: Live in Europe," which was released March 18, 2013.